PORTSMOUTH — Police here arrested a man they claimed pulled a gun on a woman while she was in her car at a stop light.

Police charged Darnell Austin, 30, no fixed address, with criminal threatening and reckless conduct, both Class B felonies in connection with the incident Thursday at around 10:30 a.m.

Police said they received a call from a woman reporting she was just threatened by a male associate of hers. The woman said that while she was stopped at a red light on Woodbury Avenue, the defendant stopped next to her and made threatening statements while pointing a gun at her.

The woman caller provided a detailed description of the man and the vehicle he was driving along with the registration number. Based on the initial investigation by the responding officers, an order to “stop and arrest” the suspect was initiated. An immediate search of the area resulted in two members of the Portsmouth Police detective division finding the suspect. The detectives, who were driving an unmarked car, located the suspect’s vehicle at the Portsmouth Public Library. The vehicle was occupied by the suspect at the time.

Patrol units quickly responded to the area and took Austin into custody.

For precautionary reasons, the middle school resource officer put the school into lockdown during the encounter based on its proximity.

Austin is being held on $10,000 cash bail with an arraignment date of Friday in Portsmouth District Court.